Employees at the centre of a dispute over the use of foreign labour have today voted to return to work after a late deal was reached between unions and the company.

A mass meeting at the liquefied natural gas terminal in Milford Haven, West Wales, voted to back the deal and return to work following the dispute, which sparked wildcat strikes.

Workers at the Wales site had complained that an agreement by
contracting firm Hertel to offer jobs to local workers at the South
Hook site in Milford Haven was broken when a number of Polish employees
were hired.

Aberthaw Power Station where workers walked out in an unofficial strike (file photo)

But Hertel UK claimed it had no choice as it had been unable to find local skilled labour.

The walk-outs started at the Wales site, where the 50 sheet-metal workers complained over the use of foreign labour.

They walked out on unofficial strike on Monday and were joined by
thousands of workers at several other sites, including oil refineries
in Lincolnshire and Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire.

Humberside Police said around 800 protesters had blocked roads near the refinery at South Killingholme.

Union sources had warned the new wave of industrial action would spread unless the dispute was resolved quickly.

But talks between the company and union leaders led to a breakthrough last night.

The demonstrations echo the strikes at the Lindsey oil refinery in
Lincolnshire, which broke out earlier this year over Italian and
Portuguese workers.

Strikes have broken out at sites across Britain in protest against local workers being shut out of labour agreements

It had reached the Fiddlers Ferry power station in
Widnes, Cheshire, where more than 200 staff stopped work.

Around 200
workers also walked out of the ConocoPhillips Humber refinery in North
Lincolnshire, next to the Lindsey refinery at the centre of the action
in January.

Workers at Aberthaw power station in south Wales and the
Dragon LNG site, a few miles from the South Hook site in Milford Haven,
also downed tools.

GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: 'There is widespread
anger at repeated attempts in different projects around the country to
exclude local people from job opportunities.'

In March, workers at the Isle of Grain site in Kent threatened
to strike over claims that British power station workers were being
'undercut' by Poles.

There is also anger over figures showing the number of non-UK
born workers increased by 214,000 in the year to December 2008, while
the UK-born workforce shrank by 278,000.